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Wednesday, September 2, 2015

Fishing? Let’s start the exploration!

First day fishing. We
split in two groups/boats with two fishing, one guide and two locals each and
went upstream. Bicudas, Wolffish (Trairão), Peacock Bass, Matrinxa came to the
fly. Most of them caught by midsized poppers with light, green, yellow, white
coloration. Wire shock tippet all the time as most of them cut even thick nylon
immediately. And the Piranha even cuts wire with ease. Fishing here always
leads to surprise - you never know for sure from which species your fly is
inhaled by and aggressive take, by an ultra-fast Bicuda, a vegetarian oriented
Pacu that decides to add some meat to its food, by a big sudden hole in the
water caused by a Wolffish or by a big jump of a Peacock - everything could and
does happen. Exactly that variety is the fun thing, the various species provide
constant change and distraction.

Fishing provided good
action during the day. At noon we gathered at a spot on the river bank under trees
providing shadow. A fire was set up to cook the assortment of fish for lunch.
Side was rice … except for breakfast rice would be part of the regular dyed the
next days. Hammocks hang in the trees and we could have a rest from the strenuous
fish fighting or from wandering around at the river.

During the whole week
the jungle was surprisingly friendly to us. As the season was the dry season or
as the Kayapó call it the "good weather" we had warm to hot days but
cool nights. Close to no midges bothered us at night and during the day, still
long clothes and repellant against sun and insects at night and in the morning
is strictly mandatory.

We did not see any
bullet ants or any snakes and the sting rays are easy to see and to avoid. Bees
or wasps were not an issue. Still every step or grip should be done consciousness
to avoid unpleasant experiences. And medical needs should be considered with
adequate supply as help is at least one day away.

How as camp life?
Quiet comfortable all over! We had our rather spacious sleeping tends, a dining
tent, a toilet and a solar shower that worked surprisingly well, especially for
those that were trained to shower with five liters of water – including a hair.
Breakfast was around seven, take off to fish at eight, back in the camp around
half past six, thus enough time to catch some fish in the hours between.

Alan
the apprentice cook tried to give its best, but Ramiro put it to the point “At
this camp it is not permitted to look at the dinner plates with a flashlight” –
he got big laughs for that remark.

The beds in the tents
were kind of noisy as every movement was translated to some kind of squealing
sound caused by the air-mattress on the safari style bed. Not sure if I did
sleep a second in the first night at all. Either these sounds or the sounds
from one of the guests in the next tent made me wake more than once and the
strong impressions of the day might have kept me awake most of the time.

Second day fishing
showed the same procedure, except that we fished downstream from the camp. The river
there showed far less appealing structure, more long gliding sections with low flow
rate and barren structure. Fishing was much slower, it might have been related
to a significant drop in air pressure. At noon we set camp with highly excited
monkeys in the distance shouting with unbelievable high level of noise. It must
have been a big dispute about something or an intruder such as a big Jaguar. We
took dips in the large pool before the lunch site. Warm water, close to 30°C.

Our lunch fish
barbecue must have attracted a Cayman from the other side of the big pool, it
swam all the way over to stare at us. It got its share with the fishbone thrown
to him and the left overs eaten by the Piranha.

Fishing tactics are
pretty simple: Peacock like structure and back eddies and their friend the
snake (!), Bicudas can be everywhere but seem to have a preference for slower
moving open sections of water. Wolffish can be found in slow side channels
close to a good flow, frequently well hidden beneath stones and Matrinxa can be
lured by poppers (sometimes taken dead drift or in action) or streamers or even
more satisfying by fruit imitations close to or better under bushes and trees
in the shadow. The last stile is similare to drift fishing for trout at Yellowstone River.

Leader is rather
simple: 2,5 meters of level 40 or 60lbs (whatever is on hand and casts well)
combined with 10 to 30cm 20 or 30lbs wire as shock tippet. I used that setup
even on the 6th weight rod for Matrinxa, but then with a 20lbs leader and 20lbs
wire attached to it as takes by toothy fish are always likely. Nothing fancy,
if the popper tends to twist the line, just add a swivel between the nylon and
the wire. Flies are tied to the wire via the classic perfection loop. Rods are
6th weight for Pacu and Matrinxa and 8 for Wolffish, Peacock and the scarce
Pajara. A very heavy sinker on a 9 might be the best option for the Pajara.
Except for the last one a 7 would provide a good compromise in case somebody
wants to keep complexity down. Take spare rods, not because the fish will break
it, but more because of the danger of high sticking or just destroying it in another
way. Lines should be floating for the surface action and intermediate tip for
streamer and fast sinking for Pajara. Take one or two spare lines.

Flies in white,
yellow, orange, light green in types such as popper, clousers, streamers and
some fruit, algae imitating flies or buck imitating flies, nothing needs to be too
fancy but should be well constructed, Nevertheless one Piranha will chew a fly
to its end. Flies that look nice and just take one fish before dissasembling are not good. And as usual - only the fish caught barbless really counts!

Peacock attack the fly
(mostly popper) with a big splash, Bicudas come out of nowhere and frequently
miss the fly, Wolffish have to be lured with short strips and stops close to
their nose, that frequently results in aggressive bursts. Lots of action and
surprise can happen! That is the fun part about it. Nevertheless from my
perspective tossing poppers all week long might become a little boring. Thus
the search and sight fishing for Wolffish becomes appealing after a while, or
the dead drift of a weed imitating fly for sighted Pacu similar to nymph
fishing for trout in medium depth runs.